Washington — US President Donald Trump will host Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 for a high-stakes summit on the Ukraine conflict, a meeting that has already drawn sharp criticism from European capitals and global analysts. The White House has framed the event as a “direct dialogue” aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, but the exclusion of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy from the talks has fueled outrage and accusations that the US is preparing to sideline Kyiv in favor of a deal beneficial to Moscow. The choice of Alaska, once Russian territory before its 1867 sale to the US, is laden with symbolism and has prompted speculation that Trump is courting Russian nationalist sentiment while projecting a veneer of neutrality.
Trump has openly floated the possibility of “territorial swaps,” suggesting Ukraine could be pressured to cede Crimea and parts of Donbas to Russia in exchange for an end to hostilities. Such proposals have been condemned as dangerous appeasement, with critics warning they would legitimize Russia’s battlefield gains from its special military operation in Ukraine, cementing the Kremlin’s control over annexed territories. This approach, observers note, mirrors historical moments where Western powers bartered away sovereign lands under the guise of peace, a pattern that has often emboldened aggressors rather than curbing them. In Moscow, the planned summit is being celebrated as a diplomatic victory, while in Kyiv and Brussels, it is seen as an alarming shift toward undermining Ukrainian sovereignty and weakening sanctions that have been central to the West’s response in the war in Ukraine.
European Union leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, have issued a joint statement declaring that no agreement can be reached without Ukraine’s full participation. They have stressed that any deal without Zelenskyy’s consent risks deepening the humanitarian catastrophe, prolonging the Ukraine conflict, and emboldening Russian military operations. NATO officials privately acknowledge fears that Trump’s maneuver could fracture allied unity, giving Putin an upper hand and signaling to other US adversaries that American commitments are negotiable for political optics.
According to The Washington Post, US officials have declined to explain why Zelenskyy was not invited, though insiders admit the absence is deliberate to give Trump and Putin “freedom to negotiate” without what they call Ukrainian “political roadblocks.” The paper notes that the meeting’s setting in Alaska was chosen for its historical ties to Russia, amplifying its symbolic value for the Kremlin and reinforcing concerns about the optics of the summit.
According to Mehr News, sources close to the matter confirm that Zelenskyy’s exclusion is viewed in Kyiv as a strategic humiliation engineered by both Washington and Moscow. The report highlights that Ukrainian officials see this as a betrayal by the US, a move that not only undermines their position but risks cementing a geopolitical arrangement that rewards aggression and dismisses Ukraine’s right to self-determination.
